Improvement in harvesters



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

OREN STODDARD, OF BUSTI, NEWvYOR-K.

IM PROVEM ENT IN HARVESTERS.

Specification forming part of Lctters'Patent No. 22,312, dated ]`)ecenihcr`14, 1858.

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, OREN STQDDARD, of

Busti, in the county ot Chautauqua and Statel of New York, have invented a new and Iniproved Grrass and Grain Harvester; and Ido hereby declare that the following is ai'ull, clear, and exact description of the saine, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making apart of this speciiication, in which- Figure 1 is a side sectional view of my invention, taken in the line a', Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a plan or top view of the saine. Fig. 3 is an inverted plan of a portion ot" the saine.

Similar letters oi reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

This invention consists in the employment or use of conical rollers, attached to the iingerbar and used in connection with a sickle-har having an oblique or beveled back, and alsd used in connection with a cap-plate, the whole being arranged as hereinafter fully shown and described, whereby the points or front parts of the siekle-teethare made, by the action of the grass or grain being cut, .or by the resistance offered bythe grass or grain to the forward movement of the machine, to bind or bear snugly on the front parts of the fingers, and thereby greatly add to the efticiency ofthe cutting device.

'lo enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct my invention, l will proceed to describe it.

A represents the main franieof the machine, which is mounted on wheels B B, and C is the finger-bar, which is attached to the main frame A by a joint, D, to admit of the ready rising and falling of the outer part ofthe finger-bar independently of the main frame.

E are fingers attached to the bar G, and F is the sickle, the teeth a of which are of the usual or saw-tooth form, as shown clearly in Fig.

'n The sickle-bar b, to which the teeth a are .yttached, has its back side, o, inclined or beveled,as shownvciearlyin Fig. l,the upper edge projecting over or farther back than the lower edge. The sickle-teeth ci rest on the lingers E; but the sickle-bar b. may rest on the front parrt of the tingerbar or on the back parts of the fingers. The sickle is driven by a crank, d, and connecting-rod c, motion being communicated to the crank-shaft from one ot' the traction-wheels by any suitable arrangement of gearing, it being preferable to have the driving-crank d as nearlyin a horizontal line with tliesickle as possible. The inner end of the sickle-bar, to which the connectingrod e is at* tached, is provided with a friction-roller, f, which rests on the inner end ofthe finger-bar, and serves to diniinish much friction which would otherwise occur by the oblique pull and thrust ofthe crank d.

On the finger-bar U rollers G are placed. Two of these rollers are shown as being applied to the finger-bar in Fig. 2; but more may be used, it desired. These rollers are fitted loosely on vertical pins g', attached to the tinger-bar, and consequent-ly are in a. horizontal or approximate position. rlhe rollers G are of conical forni-that is to say, their periphcrics are inclined so that their upper surfaces will be of less diameter than their lower surfaces.

H is the ca p-plate, which is secured by screws it, or otherwise properly fastened to the fingerbar C. The front part of this plate is recessed, swaged, or otherwise formed to cover the sicklebar b, as shown clearly in Fig. 1, and the backV part rests snugly on the finger-bar on the tingers, with the exception of two recesses to reoei-ve the rollers Gr G.

To the front part ot' the mainframe A a footpiece, I, is attached by ljoints yi i', as shown more particularl inthe inverted sectional plan, Fig. 3. To the' t`ootpiece l the drivers seat J is attached by inclined bars K K, one of which is shown in Fig. l.

pole L or the shafts M. The tenons k are secured in the foot-piece by pins i, which pass through the front traversebarj of the footpiece. By this simple arrangement either the draft-pole or shafts may be readily attached te or detached from one and the same machine.

.I would remark that the tin ger-har and sickle may be; raised and'iowered in order to clear obstructions, and also to 'regulate the height the crop is to be cnt, by means oflevers N O, the lever N heilig connected by a joint, m, to the main frame at o r near its front end, and the back end ot' said lever having a casterF wheel, n, attached to it. The back end ofthe lever O is secured between uprights o o, at-Y tached to the inner end ofthe tingenbar, said lever bearing or resting on the lever N, as shown at p, and having a inortise made through The foot-piece l is formed ot' a rectangular frame covered by a platform.-v

r)The two traversebars j j ot' the frame are inortised to receive the tenons k of either the dra-it- 4it near its front end to allow a curved guidebar, q, to pass through, said bar q being perforated with holes to receive a pin, r, to regulate the height of the nger'bar and sickle.

`This will be understood by referring to Fig. l. The operation is as follows: As the machineis drawn along` the grass or grain in offering a resistance to the forward movement of the sickle F will cause the back-inclinededge c of the sickle-bar b to hear against the conical or inclined faces or peripheries of the rollers G G. This pressure of course has a tendencyto throw up the sickle-bar b and force or press down the front parts of the teeth asnugly on the fingers ation ot' the sickle, but so far-as I am aware for this purpose only.

I am also aware that levers arranged similarly to those hereinshown and described Afor regulating the height of the sickle have been previously used. I therefore do not claim broadly the application of friction-rollers to a linger-bar and sickle when viewed merely as sucl1,irrespective ofthe other function hereinbefore described. Neither do I claim the levers N O for raising and lowering the finger-bar and sickle; but,

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters, Patent, is-

The conical rollers G G, two or more, :1t-- tached to the finger-bar C, in connection with thesickle-bar b, provided with an inclined blick,l

and the cap-plate H or its equivalent, the whole being arranged to operate substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

OBEN STODDARD.

Witnesses WM. TUSGH, W. HAUFF. 

